No, there is a big difference between dying and ceasing to exist. After a person dies, his/her soul still exists. Cease to exist means their soul will no longer be anywhere.

On a religious level thats how people remember those who have died, even if its just passing on memory of them. The actual important part of not ceasing to exist is to be remembered. Everyone remembers people like Abraham Lincoln or Cleopatra, even if long since dead.

Infact the irony is even if someone makes the excuse that a bad person will burn in hell, they don't cease to exist either, because people like Hitler and Josef Stalin are remembered and don't cease to exist from the minds of people generations on, as a reminder, and living in infamy

Memory is over-rated, and usually corrupt. Things didn't happen the way we remember them. We recreate what happened, in our minds, based on more or less signposts of past experience, which include dreams. Most of us live anonymously, and die that way too.

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𐎍𐎜𐎜𐎟𐎌𐎀𐎍𐎎𐎀𐎀𐎚𐎀𐎟𐎍𐎜𐎜𐎟𐎁𐎀𐎍𐎉𐎀𐎀𐎚𐎀luu shalmaata luu balt’aataMay you be well, may you be healthy

Memory is over-rated, and usually corrupt. Things didn't happen the way we remember them. We recreate what happened, in our minds, based on more or less signposts of past experience, which include dreams. Most of us live anonymously, and die that way too.

Yeah, but without memories, are you still you?That's why dementia is my greatest fear.

We may, and in fact do, misremember. But if you were to wipe all my memories and drop me off in a country where I had to start over, or had me reïncarnate after death without any recollection of my past life; I wouldn't be me anymore and I would not see it as a continueation of my existence.

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"If we have to go down, we go down together!"- Your mum, requesting 69 last night.

The most significant people in our lineage will be forgotten within three generations. We will remember our ancestors, at least that we had them, but names, visual images, and specific accomplishments go fast, and we are talking about rather huge chunks of our DNA at that. People fuss about living forever, be it as spirits, or just in the hearts of loved ones, but the reality for most people is that 75 years from now, we will be forgotten and of no consequence to anyone. We are carriers of an ever evolving DNA code, and nothing more. We pass this code on, but it is only a non thinking code without gratitude, a plan, or a soul. That's the entirety of what makes us temporarily aware and what makes us alive. Nothing has ever been detected in the code that says it creates a soul. The soul is an invention of man in an attempt to explain away the transitory inconsequence of his existence, comforting to some, like a Teddy Bear, but nothing more than a prop.

It depends on how you define you. In my mind, if the YOU is more than just a robotic feeding machine, it's all about memories and conscious awareness, which is what theists seem to confuse with a life after death. Conscious awareness fades in dementia, and ceases to exist in death.

I read somewhere that some theist/scientist once claimed that upon death, there was an almost imperceptible, but immediate weight loss due to the departing of the soul. Of course, no such weight loss could be detected, so once again, it didn't prove anything at all in the way of supernatural mysteries. But it was a nice try, I suppose.

The most significant people in our lineage will be forgotten within three generations. We will remember our ancestors, at least that we had them, but names, visual images, and specific accomplishments go fast, and we are talking about rather huge chunks of our DNA at that. People fuss about living forever, be it as spirits, or just in the hearts of loved ones, but the reality for most people is that 75 years from now, we will be forgotten and of no consequence to anyone. We are carriers of an ever evolving DNA code, and nothing more. We pass this code on, but it is only a non thinking code without gratitude, a plan, or a soul. That's the entirety of what makes us temporarily aware and what makes us alive. Nothing has ever been detected in the code that says it creates a soul. The soul is an invention of man in an attempt to explain away the transitory inconsequence of his existence, comforting to some, like a Teddy Bear, but nothing more than a prop.

^This!--My thoughts exactly!

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Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?Then he is not omnipotent,Is he able but not willing?Then whence cometh evil?Is he neither able or willing?Then why call him god?

Even if we could "live" forever in the memories of others, that wouldn't do us a bit of good, since we'd know nothing of those ongoing memories. And that isn't even an option anyway, as has been pointed out already - of the You are not allowed to view links.
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You are not allowed to view links.
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Yeah, but without memories, are you still you?That's why dementia is my greatest fear.

We may, and in fact do, misremember. But if you were to wipe all my memories and drop me off in a country where I had to start over, or had me reïncarnate after death without any recollection of my past life; I wouldn't be me anymore and I would not see it as a continueation of my existence.

Depends. If the real you, is just an actor playing the part of Mr Obvious ... then when you stop playing the part of Mr Obvious, does the actor playing that part cease to exist? I think not. The metaphor is one that keeps on giving. In one form of Hinduism, our fake selves are jiva (think poster ID), our real selves are atman (think the human at the other end), and Brahman is the actor playing all the so-called real selves. Think of yourself as a "genticle" but the actor playing you is The Beast With A Billion Backs ...

Depends. If the real you, is just an actor playing the part of Mr Obvious ... then when you stop playing the part of Mr Obvious, does the actor playing that part cease to exist? I think not. The metaphor is one that keeps on giving. In one form of Hinduism, our fake selves are jiva (think poster ID), our real selves are atman (think the human at the other end), and Brahman is the actor playing all the so-called real selves. Think of yourself as a "genticle" but the actor playing you is The Beast With A Billion Backs ...

Depends. If the real you, is just an actor playing the part of Mr Obvious ... then when you stop playing the part of Mr Obvious, does the actor playing that part cease to exist? I think not. The metaphor is one that keeps on giving. In one form of Hinduism, our fake selves are jiva (think poster ID), our real selves are atman (think the human at the other end), and Brahman is the actor playing all the so-called real selves. Think of yourself as a "genticle" but the actor playing you is The Beast With A Billion Backs ...

As someone whose hobby is acting... that was a confusing rant buddy. I don't know about you, but...I'm not playing at being anyone, irl or even online. I'm me. And I will continue to be me because of who I've been. Only when I'm acting, I'm acting. And when I stop playing my part, that part does not die. It was only an act after all.But curiously, the act does become part of the actor, through the experience and, and I cannot stress this enough, the memory of the experience accompagnying you forward.

« Last Edit: February 21, 2018, 04:30:21 PM by Mr.Obvious »

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"If we have to go down, we go down together!"- Your mum, requesting 69 last night.